


Beautiful - The Epilogue

by ahkiaf



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dream Pack, Gen, Idols
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 03:57:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahkiaf/pseuds/ahkiaf
Summary: Out of sudden, Jaehwan had to live the beautiful life. He put the blame on the director first thing first.





	Beautiful - The Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> tbh this is a mess. i'm sorry jnj
> 
> but for a start, this is supposed to be a continuation of beautiful mv

_November 13_

 

 

 

It could have been a couple of months.

 

Maybe longer.

 

It wasn’t like he religiously marked out the each passing days on the calendar. He did, but he somehow gave up after a few days, and so he just settled doing it in his head.

 

He was worried, no doubt. There were a lot running in his mind at the same time, be it a new variable or questions. And it came to irk him at the end when the list going on and he was stuck with it, unable to answer anything.

 

One day, he woke up as an idol. Then, he wasn’t. He was supposed to carry out his schedules as usual, then again, he suddenly wasn’t needed to.

 

 

 

 

 

"You okay?”

 

The familiar voice yanked Jaehwan from his thought, and he looked up. “Hey”, he greeted, his lips curled into an amused smile when he saw Daniel’s face was full of worry.

 

“I’m okay. Serious”

 

“But you look like— _fine_ if you said so”

 

Jaehwan crooked his head to the side and smiled a rueful smile. “How’s work?”, he asked, trying to divert the younger’s attention from him. It seemingly worked as he got to listen while the male poured out his frustration working at the convenience store they currently sat in.

 

“Urgh! Don’t remind me. I lost count the number of minors that came to buy beer here, and had the audacity to give me the stink eyes when I asked for their ID…”

 

_‘_ _How irony’_

 

The Kang Daniel that he knew would had never gotten treated rudely. Jaehwan once felt jealous with the latter, however, he was equally aware that Daniel deserved that enormous amount of love. _‘Except now…’_ , his eyes caught one of the posters on the store window and the bold printed ‘Year 2017’ on it.

 

Except now, that by some means, he was back to the past year. He also learned in a hard way that he and Daniel weren’t in any group or so.

 

“How about you? Have you make amen with Jihoon yet?”

 

Jaehwan shook his head slowly.

 

“Hurm… you know you’re at the wrong, right? All of us were worried about Seongwu hyung that time, and you just decided to say it was a prank. Hah we’re not even a celebrity to begin with”

 

_‘We are’_

 

A loud ringtone suddenly blasted in the background, startling both of them.

 

The younger quickly picked up his phone, looked at the caller ID, and glanced at Jaehwan briefly as he mouthed _‘Jisung hyung’_ , before pressing the device against his ear.

 

“Yes, hyung?... W-What? Really?... Oh thanks God… Wait… I’ll get there soon”

 

Daniel hung up the call and turned to Jaehwan, all smiley.

 

“Did something good happen?”, Jaehwan asked, feeling his heart pounded swiftly in his chest somehow.

 

Daniel beamed up and nodded.

 

“Seongwu hyung… he woke up already”

 

 

 

 

 

They reached at the hospital in a record time.

 

Stepping out from the taxi, Jaehwan didn’t bother to tell Daniel to slow down as he hurriedly strode into the building as well.

 

He walked up to the elevator and pressed the call button. Within a few seconds, the doors sprung open and he stepped inside, with the latter in tow.

 

“I can’t believe this, Jaehwan-ah. God finally answered our prayer”

 

Jaehwan stared at Daniel as he gave a wry smile that silently agreed with him. He still couldn’t get used to the situation he unwillingly got thrown into, but he certainly didn’t want to see a friend to stay bedridden any longer.

 

The elevator made a _‘ding’_ sound, indicating they have arrived, and the doors slowly opened. They went out and began trudging their way to Seongwu’s assigned room.

 

 

 

 

 

“LET ME GO! YOU GUYS CAN’T UNDERSTAND THE SHIT I’M HAVING RIGHT NOW! LET ME GO! JUST LET ME GO!”

 

 

 

 

 

Jaehwan’s breath hitched in his throat and his heart beat faster as he caught the familiar voice. _‘Seongwu hyung’_. He slid the door open, ever so hesitantly, and walked in.

 

“WHY CAN’T I FEEL MY LEGS? WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY LEGS? WHY CAN’T I FEEL ANYTHING?”

 

Jaehwan stopped on his track and stared at the sight before him, eyes grew wide in shock. He turned aside and saw Jisung and Daehwi standing and watched helplessly at one corner, then back to the doctor and the nurse who tried to calm Seongwu at the moment.

 

This had been their greatest fear since the day one. Everyone was contemplating how they should tell Seongwu on the truth. As if they were actually glad to be given some time to think when the male hadn’t yet regained his conscious.

 

“H-hyung…”

 

Jaehwan grabbed Daniel’s arm and tried to stop him when he took a step nearer to Seongwu. “Don’t”

 

“But Seongwu hyung—”

 

“STOP IT! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

 

Tightening his grip on Daniel, Jaehwan felt his heart slammed against its chest as he saw the pain from Seongwu’s eyes. A lone tear escaped from his eye without him knowing and slid down the side of his face.

 

“Hold the patient for me”

 

Jaehwan heard the doctor ordering the nurse as he began to inject something into Seongwu’s IV line.

 

“All done”, the doctor claimed and Jaehwan heavily moved forward to the older’s bed, eyes never leave his face. Their eyes met for a while, but Seongwu slowly shut his close and drifted off to sleep.

 

 _‘This is too much’_ , Jaehwan thought as he looked down to the worn-out shoes he put on. If he remembered right, his stylist purposely prepared this broke look for the MV filming. The members and him were supposed to act as a group of orphans who have nothing but only the company of each other. That was the plot. _‘But now what?’_

 

He wasn’t even sure whether this was real or not. He lost the track of time and felt pathetic to top it all. Everybody here was going through a hard time, yet the mere thing he could think of was the moment he was on the MGA stage with the members, celebrating their first ever grand award.

 

The irony killed him inside. The song that had helped his group to win the biggest award just turned him helpless as the time passed.

 

He looked up and met Daehwi’s eyes for a moment. He was crying. Jisung too. He could tell that from the way his shoulders shaking. Daniel, however, merely stood still, but, if his personality here is no different with the Daniel he had always knew, then the taller was upset as well.

 

Gritting his teeth, Jaehwan turned away as he wiped his eyes. He spun around and later realised that there was another person in front of the door. There were tears in his eyes, but the person must not like the idea that someone had seen it as he hastily left.

 

With that, Jaehwan followed him outside. “Jihoon! Wait!”, he called, yet the latter didn’t seem to notice or even care to stop.

 

He wondered in case he was a permanent asshole toward the younger in this alternate universe. Or was this perhaps a dream?

 

“Jihoon-ah”, he called again. And again, when the male still ignored him.

 

They somehow reached the hospital rooftop and Jaehwan shivered a little once the cold November breeze greeted him.

 

“Are you stupid?”, Jihoon suddenly said, giving his back to him. “Who do you think you are to follow me?”

 

Jaehwan flinched. It sounded like an insult rather than a question. He opened his mouth to voice something but he was so dazed to utter a word.

 

The Jihoon he had came to know was nothing like this. The younger was a brat at times, yet it wasn’t a matter Jaehwan couldn’t tolerate usually.

 

Maybe Woojin was right. That Jihoon probably blamed himself for what had happened to Seongwu and Daniel. That he might had hate himself for hurting his arm too.

 

For that, Jaehwan wanted to condemn the director for allowing such pitiful characters in the MV. He recalled having fun during the filming and it was just an act, except it wasn’t the case for the people here.

 

“You were crying”, Jaehwan finally found the courage to speak. “I can’t leave you alone”

 

“Yah! Are we close?”, the quiver in his voice betrayed the younger’s façade, and it somewhat gave Jaehwan another mean to continue.

 

“Jihoon-ah… I… we’re all here for you. Whatever you’ve been thinking, that’s not it—”

 

“—get lost”

 

“Jihoon please…”

 

“GET LOST!”

 

Taken back, Jaehwan wordlessly watched Jihoon crouching down on the floor afterward. In the silence that followed, he sensed that he was breaking under the stress. The latter began to tremble, hence Jaehwan rushed to him and wrapped him in a hug.

 

Jihoon surprisingly made no move to push him away. “It’s not your fault, Jihoon-ah. It’s really not”

 

Only a low sob that escaped Jihoon’s lips answered Jaehwan, then little by little, his shoulders heaved with deep sobs as he eventually let himself go.

 

 

 

 

 

Jaehwan lost track of time of how long he had stayed in that position. When the crying ceased, he lifted up his head, but instead of Jihoon, he found himself hugging his own body.

 

Dazed, he heard a chuckle and felt non-stop nudges on his shoulder after that.

 

“Earth to you, Jaehwan-ah!”. Someone shot a hand in front of him and waved before his face. “Yah! Wake up! Wake up!”

 

Jaehwan snapped and glanced up to the voice. Jisung and Woojin’s face came into his sight right away, looking at him with an amused smile. _‘Where am I?’_ , he blinked as he scanned his surroundings. He was on a seat. In a van. Better, he was sitting inside the company van.

 

 _‘I’m back…?’_. Jaehwan felt his blood rushing through his veins as he quickly checked himself on the window. He unconsciously touched his red hair and stared at it in disbelief.

 

“Tsk… see that hyung. Such a pro idol. Fixing up his hair first after he woke up”

 

Woojin commented with a hint of sarcasm but he paid no heed to it. He kept eyeing his reflection as his head swam with many thoughts.

 

“Right? Yah Kim Jaehwan! At the least wipe your tears and snot, can you?”

 

“Yeah… what did you even dream, hyung? We all get freaked out when you started crying in your sleep”, Guanlin added as he popped his head out from behind.

 

Jaehwan looked at Jisung, then Guanlin to and fro. “Me?... Crying?”

 

“Don’t worry, guys! If it was a weird dream, we’ld have had to listen to different kind of noise from Jaehwan”

 

Sungwoon piped in loudly as soon as the leader and maknae confirmed with him, and Jaehwan somehow was thankful for the distraction. Some of the members laughed along to the joke. It was a warm sight he might say, but he couldn’t help recalled his— _‘Was it really a dream?’_

 

It was too real to be a dream. All the tears shed, the cry of pain, and the conversations he shared seemed way too much to be just a dream.

 

“Alright, kids! It’s early in the morning, mind you? Keep the volume down, especially you, Ha Sungwoon… Park Woojin”. The car door slid open and their manager stepped to the door and peeked inside. “Come out already. The airport isn’t going anywhere, but our plane to Thailand is”

 

With that, a groan broke in unison, though they still prepared to get out. Jaehwan too, even with a hazed mind.

 

“Jaehwan hyung, have you calm down?”

 

Jaehwan glanced up and his eyes met with Jihoon’s immediately. The pair of eyes which have just had tears dripping from them a moment ago are now looking at him in a mixed of concern and playfulness.

 

“I sat next to you, hyung. I could hear you calling my name before. _Why?_... Did I reject you in your sleep?”, Jihoon teased, mimicking his crying face.

 

Jaehwan opened his mouth to speak, when they all heard Seongwu, at the back of the car, screaming at the top of his lungs. He sprung to his feet and looked behind anxiously.

 

“What’s it now, Ong Seongwu?”, their manager asked, rather unfazed.

 

“I can’t feel my legs”, Seongwu whined, earning him a laugh from the members, but Jaehwan.

 

“Nothing unusual, manager-nim. It’s just a cramp”

 

Daniel said on behalf of his roommate and a series of laughter filled in the van again. Jaehwan wanted to join the fun, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

 

Not until he turned to Jihoon and saw the big smile on the younger’s face, that he thought it was a lot better that way. He was relieved that everything was merely a dream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…or so he thought. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_November 19_

 

 

 

“Get a rest. You’ve only like three hours to sleep”

 

Eyebrow raised, Jaehwan turned to his manager, one hand halted before the closed door of the company van. “Really, hyung?”

 

“Aigoo why do you sound surprise? It’s not my fault you got a sensitive tummy that you had to meet a doctor in the wee hours. Seriously… how could you eat so much?”

 

He grinned as the image of galbi from the Guerrilla interview filming came into his mind. “The galbi is to die for, hyung. It’s a pity you didn’t get to taste any”

 

It was indeed delicious. He didn’t think that he would find his mom’s cooking rival in this lifetime, but he somehow did at the point. 

 

He heard a snort coming from his manager, and he grinned wider, fully aware of what it was supposed to mean.

“There’s hardly any leftover after you guys done eating… geez am I raising a pig farm?”

 

Jaehwan broke into a playful smile, put a finger to his lips, and made the _‘shhhhh!’_ sound. “Be careful, hyung! What if Niel or Minhyun hyung’s sasaeng heard you?”

 

“Aishh I don’t know… I don’t care”, his manager coolly replied, yet he could make out the shaking in his tone when the older told him to shut the door already.

 

The latter drove away later and he waited until the car was out of his sight before he turned around, briefly glanced down at his watch. It was almost 12. He would need to hurry if he planned to claim his well-deserved sleep.

 

Punching in the passcodes, Jaehwan gave the gate door to his apartment building a little push, but it didn’t budge. He blinked at it in confusion and tried the handle, but to no avail. He pushed the door harder for another time, however it still wouldn’t open.

 

He couldn’t help but let out a faint grunt of frustration, and that when he finally took note of his surroundings.

 

It was almost bright as the sun was rising up from the clouds. It was obvious by the way it didn’t cross his mind to use the flashlight from his phone like he usually did when it was dark. It was as if the night turned into day by then.

 

 _‘Is this—?’_. Jaehwan felt his breath came short when a thought flashed through his mind.

 

“Jae… J-Jaehwan hyung?”

 

Surprised, he spun around and his gaze immediately took in a familiar face standing just a few feet from him. 

 

“Oh… it’s just you”, Jaehwan heaved out a sigh he had no idea he was holding. “Yah did you see it? What with this sudden change—”

 

He paused when he noticed a cast on Jihoon’s right hand.

 

The boy was fine this morning. He was sure he saw him playing computer game using two perfectly intact hands when he left the dorm. The last time he saw Jihoon with a cast even—a fake one, was probably during a MV filming.

 

Also, if he ought to count in his weird dream recently.

 

The vivid memory gave him a sudden shudder, and his breath hitched as thousands of scenarios piling up inside his head. He stared at the younger before him in perplexity.

 

_‘It can’t be…’_

 

“J-Jihoon?”, Jaehwan said, almost whispering. 

 

They continued to stare at each other, until finally Jihoon spoke, pointing out his red hair. “It’s an eyesore”

 

It was a joke, Jaehwan knew better, but he somewhat couldn’t take it calmly. In any case, the members had been nothing but praising his new hair colour every single time. Jihoon included. 

 

Therefore, having to hear the younger telling him otherwise, it just implied to him that…

 

“You’re not Jihoon”, Jaehwan stated. He didn’t mind if this Jihoon took his harsh tone personally. For all he cares, he had to get out of this place if ever it turned out to be what he had always been afraid of. 

 

There was, however, a faint smile graced the younger’s features when Jaehwan saw him next. Like he has been expecting that kind of reaction from him. A guilt creeped into his conscience at once.

 

“We finally meet again, hyung...”, the boy trailed off, seemingly overwhelmed. “I guess you’re really in an idol group, huh? I would still say no to that chilli paste of your hair though”

 

Jaehwan stiffened, unsure of how to conduct himself. _‘Is this real?’_. If it was a yes, then he wondered whether the thing he went through a few days back was not a mere dream. Neither him nor Jihoon said a word for a moment. He was confused. Partially scared.

 

“Why… n-no… what… what’s happening?”

 

“You mean… how did I get here? In this alternate universe? In your world?”

 

Jaehwan gave a quick nod. He was in hurry to make sense of this craziness.

 

“I honestly don’t know. But God probably took a pity of me when I told Him that I would want to see you while it still lasts”

 

“…W-What?”

 

“I’m a part of your memories, hyung. Even if you won’t completely forget me, the time will wash away this image of me someday. It’s inevitable”

 

Jaehwan anxiously took a step forward as he spoke. “W-wait… what do you—”. Then again, the words stuck in his throat as he watched Jihoon slowly fading away in front of his eyes. He felt light and strange, but he was too numb to do much.

 

As the time passed, the once blue sky also turned into a vast expanse of jet-black.

 

“The idol Jihoon… is he doing well?”

 

Jaehwan tore away his eyes from the sky and looked down at the now fully transparent figure before him. He nodded again, feeling the churn in his stomach.

 

“It’s great, isn’t it? At least one of the Jihoon is happy”

 

It happened so fast and the younger’s smile was the last thing Jaehwan saw before he could feel the cool night breeze whistled softly, blowing lightly through his hair all over again.

 

It took a while for him to drop everything he had in his hands, then brought his wrist up to eye level and read the time on his watch.

 

 

 

 

 

12 am.

 

_November 20_

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
